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HRLH. AL CAPONE | THE-HOSTILITY toward news; pebnen dis- played by the Isw officers nso brtetwtth the recent formal release of Al Capone leads us to call for a new deal insuring proper news in such cases and fair treatmept of qeporters and photographers ~ secking legitimate ne®s of importance. The majesty of government was not upheld when U. S. officers and Henry Hill, warden of the Northeast Federal Penitentiary at Lewisburg, Pa., coanived to frustrate the newspapermen and even permitted attacks on photographers. One camera was broken at the prison, from which the ex- gang lord was spirited away in a car identified later as that of Warden Hill's. Government guards engaged in « brief and slightly “acri- monious” skirmish with Chicago Times men Sater at Harrisburg. The guards knocked down one Chicago Times photographer, but his associate took pictpres and thus upset the best-laid plana of the Federal officers to spirit Capone across the country in complete secrecy. ¢ A scofe of newspapermen waited vainly at the Lewisburg penitentiary while Warden Hill con- veniently absented himself at the time of Capone’s release after refusing all demands for a statement, These newspapermen later held an “inquest” and they can hardly be blamed for returning the fol- lowing verdict holding the Federal Government guilty of negligence in its duty to the public, i “We, the jury, after due deliberation of the evi, dence at hand in the case of the Fourth Estat vs, the Federal Bureau of Prisons, do hereby fin g%Lin dissemination of news incident to reivese of Al Capone, and we do hereby recom- mpd that necessary steps be taken to establish a better relationship as a means of preventing a recurrence of these misunderstandings.” | Why, we wish to ask James W. Bennett, director Mr. Leeter ce Mr. Borden Mr. Melntize Mr. Michels. ...- Bir, Bown te, Ga'ba aise Gurus Your Boo ... of Federal Prisons, was Capone shown such un- | ‘arrauted eonsderation, while the newspapermen coveriug his release were treated as enemies of ! the government? An investigation of the facts is in order by this bureau's chief and a policy should be formulated barring a repetition of the mistreat- mesit of the press in the release of any prisoner of Capone's or lesser importance. “G-MEN” THE HABIT of describing any government law officers _as “i a a paper writers to the point where we think { should be called to this practice, During the past week several stories erroneously identified, as | “Gemen™ eral | Capone ‘on the trip East. We_pee in this - | -_ Justice declares the Federal Bureau of Investiga- ' bal 3 tion had nothin; lo with putting Capone in! 4 ‘ ison or wil TINgID| " . Newspapers fat it the copy desks, from whieh ‘easy beadiine phrase spread) have | ? it. The term yt an to mean an FBI